Pioneers Club Podcast #9: Going Into the Unknown + Creating Something New: Lessons from Starting Our Podcast
Time to listen: 18:59
Time to read: 19:00
Introduction
Monika This is the Pioneers Club podcast.
Patrick The community podcast for driven entrepreneurs and leaders.
Monika Here you can connect with like minded people, create a sense of belonging and gain more agency in your daily life.
Hi, my name is Monika and I’m your host. I help entrepreneurs and leaders with big ideas go from feeling overwhelmed, scared and confused to being clearheaded, confident and focused as they go after their goals.
I’m a mental and systemic coach and primarily focus on topics such as resilience, agency, confidence, high performance and goal pursuit, helping my clients thrive in their business with more ease.
Patrick And I’m your co-host, Patrick. I’m an entrepreneur in the fast paced media industry, and I help people tell stories.
As a producer and production manager, I work with a global network of partners to create engaging content, combining media and technology to create value and impact.
I went or live through the topics of our podcast, just like you, and I will try to ask the questions you might have.
This week’s focus: Looking back at our experience of creating something new, the Pioneers Club Podcast
Monika So welcome back to this week’s episode. We are looking back at a very exciting and full journey of learnings and lessons that we did, and this is why we thought this lesson should be a little bit different.
We talked about six different topics that came up during our Pioneers Club event and that were very important for our pioneers to address in their growth journey. So we took them and talked about them in this podcast over the last few episodes.
And now this episode is supposed to use our example of creating something new, of starting on a new journey, which is creating this Pioneers club. And looking at how these topics and how these lessons apply to our experience and using our experience as an example for what we have discussed so far as well.
Patrick It was quite interesting, wasn’t it?
Monika It was a very exciting journey.
Patrick It was a very exciting journey, challenging story. There were things that we had no idea how to do, how to tackle it. There were some technical aspects. There was the part of us talking on a podcast which we’ve never done before. Yeah, it was challenging and interesting at the same time. And we were basically heading a little bit into the Unknown, I would say, yeah
Monika Oh, big time into the Unknown.
Lessons from our journey of starting this podcast
Patrick But what I would like to know when we’re talking about taking a step back and reviewing basically what we’ve done for the past few weeks and months: what would you say was your most challenging or most exciting part in this journey? I mean, there were obviously so many things, but can you, can you pick a few?
Monika Well, actually, yes, I can, because in preparing for this episode, I was thinking about what would be most useful as well for other people to consider or to know about when thinking about a growth journey that they are intending to do as well.
And there are three lessons that stuck out to me. The first one is already allowing yourself to enter what I call a testing or experimentation phase. What do I mean by that?
It’s this period that we had directly declared as a testing phase where we knew that we would have to figure things out. We knew that we didn’t have all the answers and we couldn’t possibly have had all the answers. I mean, we had to find the ways of doing things that would work for both of us. We had to find the topics that would be most interesting. And thankfully, our event actually went so well that people gave us too many topics to talk about.
But this was something that helped me a lot in this growth process: to not start into this whole growth journey and this whole project by thinking about how it has to look in the end and then just trying to fulfill a perfect picture of that, but actually allowing ourselves this more fluid stage.
Patrick It takes a lot of pressure off because you don’t have to be perfect from the start. And we basically said, we’re taking our audience along the journey and we’ll figure things out as we go along. I mean, we’re entrepreneurs like our audience. We’re doing the same thing, and now they’re just part of the story.
So basically we’re trying to figure everything out and we’re trying to get better. We don’t have to be perfect in our very first episode.
Which honestly, we knew we wouldn’t be because that’s also something that was important for me. I compared what we wanted to do to other podcasts already out there. And I was like, Okay, there’s no way in hell that we can do this on day one.
So I actually love the idea of you putting the test face out there so we can just learn and grow while already being out there and taking them on the journey with us.
Monika It allowed us to stay more curious, right? And I know that we, all the time, every week, we learned something new and this opened us up to new ideas of how to do things differently. We did research in a non-judgmental way. We tried to be very open to various ideas while still focused.
And I think we wouldn’t have managed this as well if we had declared: It has to look a certain way, starting from point zero.
And just what you addressed right now, the comparison, I mean, we did our research, we did look at different podcasts, we looked at different formats that we like, and then we sat down and compared it and took what we like.
But if we had held us to this standard right from the start, I think we would have been very frustrated, and we wouldn’t have had the learning curve that we have.
Patrick Definitely. And I mean, I never did that before. I mean, I work in the media industry and I’m behind the camera all the time for a good reason, because I don’t want to talk or be in front of a camera. And comparing other podcasts to what we wanted to do. It casts a lot of doubt if we were able to do this, if we can pull it off.
I mean, you look at all these podcasts out there and they sound amazing. They sound so very well structured and researched. And it’s like, yeah, they’re doing a fantastic job. And then you come in and it’s like, Oh yeah, great, here we are, let’s start. We have this great idea. And then you sit down in front of the microphone and it’s like, What are we actually doing? How are we going to do this?
So there’s a lot of self-doubt coming with this comparison. It’s basically exactly what we talked about in our episode, and we’re trying to help out our audience. We had the same thing, or at least for me, I had the same thing going into this.
Monika Oh, definitely. Thoughts like, who are you to talk about this topic, right? Even though I know that I have had quite a lot of experience with certain topics, working with clients as well. But also like, well, there is so much out there, this was one of the thoughts that I had, what new will I be able to offer to people that they couldn’t find somewhere else?
Things like these could have… If we hadn’t been so open together and if we hadn’t communicated as well so openly about these things, and I think it helped a lot that we took it with a lot of humor. So we laughed very much, definitely about ourselves, about the mistakes that we did, about the process that we had to go through. I mean, episodes that we recorded and then finally listened to and realized we had to rerecord the whole episode because it went wrong.
It was so good because you and I, we were able to take it with this necessary degree of ease, so that this self-doubt, comparison and we both have very high standards of quality as well, so that we wouldn’t get kind of crushed under this pressure. So this was very helpful as well.
Patrick I actually think that’s one of the most important things in this process that we were able to talk about these things like, Okay, I can give you feedback on something because maybe there’s something I know that you haven’t considered yet or the other way around.
And I think that was the only reason we’re still here getting better, doing this the way we’re doing it and having so much fun with it because we can talk about these things. And it’s one of the best things actually that you can do, being open and honest about it. We have that state of mind where we’re both just listening to something and then saying, Okay, listen, there’s something I think you can do better, this way or that way, whatever. And then you go out there and you try it.
Monika Yeah, that’s something that helped me a lot in the way that you did it as well. You gave me a lot of feedback. And I know that you are the expert when it comes to production management and processes in film, media, so I’m not the expert there.
It helped me a lot how you actually structured this kind of feedback. You were very respectful. You were sometimes even overly careful in phrasing your feedback. So this was not necessary, but this was my experience.
Patrick From experience.
Monika Yeah, some people are not that interested in learning and growing, but actually they grow defensive or they want to.
But here it was, again coming back to the testing phase maybe, here it was so clear that we are on a learning journey. So every bit of information that you shared with me, every bit of input that you gave me in how I could do things better, was so important for me to then – over the course of the next few weeks – notice it even more. And I‘ve still got a huge learning curve ahead of me. And I know…
Patrick Oh, there’s still so much more to learn. Honestly, it’s… I feel like there are some things that I know, but it’s more like, Okay, I would want to listen to a podcast who sounds like this, who does this, where the hosts are speaking in a certain way. And then it just helps me thinking about the kind of episode I would want to listen to.
And I feel like we’re on the same page when it comes to this. So it’s not like I’m the expert. I’m just trying to get better at this.
On the other hand, you were the one helping me, structuring some thoughts when it comes to all the topics that we’ve been through. I mean, they sound very easy when you just take that headline sometimes of our topics. Okay, we’re talking about self-doubt, we’re talking about comparison. Everyone knows it. And then you go into these details and it’s like, Holy, it just gets bigger.
And that’s, I think, one of the most important things that, yeah, we all have a certain understanding of what it could look like. And then your expertise comes in and it’s like, Yeah, consider it from that angle, that angle. And I think we had some really great conversations to just, yeah, open up people’s minds about these topics.
Learning + growing while staying aligned to our core principles
Monika That was one of the major pillars that we had decided on before even starting the podcast, before even organizing the event, right. That we had said we want to offer a new approach to things that allows for the complexity that we actually think is necessary in dealing with these topics.
Things are not that simple as some people want to make it out. If they were that simple, we all would have cracked the code to self-doubt, comparison, risk taking a long time ago. So there is so much more to consider.
I’m very proud of us for staying true to this principle of wanting to allow this complexity to take place here. But it also was a clear challenge on how to structure the episodes and how to deal with the topics.
Because, I mean, you know as well: The preparations we did, these ten pages long files of what we could address, brainstorming, studies that I picked up on, that I took inside, and then we had to cut out so much, which was also a learning curve, right? This is something that I see with so many people. They know so much and they want to share so much with other people that it gets just overwhelming sometimes as well. So how do you balance this? This was also a learning curve for me. So, in exchange with you, it was a lot about learning how to structure that kind of knowledge.
Patrick I think that’s actually one of the hardest things moving forward, because we all know that people’s attention spans are, what we always hear, like 10 seconds now. And we don’t want to just simplify something that’s not that easy to talk about.
I mean, self doubt, comparison, the communication part that we had, yes, we tried to put it in a 15 minute episode, but that was, like you said, really hard. We had to really boil it down to the most important things that we wanted to convey to our audience, and we will get better at this.
A lot of things left to learn, to make it understandable, but still complex and not make like a 15 second TikTok out of it. It’s not that easy.
Monika I think it’s just like we said, right? We already started out with one way to do things. Then we tried out different things. Now I hope we are also going to get even more and more feedback from people to actually be able… This is also something that we said we don’t want to do, something just coming top down from our expertise, telling people what they need to know.
No, we want to know what they are interested in. We want to know what they are going through. We want to listen to our audience and take up on the topics, the conversations, the needs that they have in order to make this a community based podcast.
Patrick But there’s still so much more out there.
Monika Oh, wow. We’re going to take a look. This is going to be very exciting now in January.
We are going to take this creative break now. I have quite a lot of meetings already scheduled for how we want to then brainstorm and discuss what we did well, what went kind of like we expected it to, what went a little bit different and how we want to move forward. Both, with the podcast but also with the events that we want to organize then on a more regular basis.
Because we want to offer more of a sense of belonging, something where people feel that they are not alone with this topics. We want to discuss these topics from a different angle maybe. We want to offer as well… I as a coach want to offer, of course, helpful inputs, maybe tips and tricks how to address things differently, how to ask yourself certain questions that are more useful when it comes to finding the right answers compared to the questions we might be used to asking.
Patrick Well, we always said we wanted to be an authentic network of people to come together to ask the real questions that some people might be afraid to ask someone they don’t know that well, or maybe even not sure they want to ask themselves, to be honest. And that’s the things that we want to talk about. We want to bring up those issues and we want to give everyone the feeling that they’re not alone in this and help them through it, whatever that may be for them.
Monika Is there one of such questions, one of these questions that you are, kind of, that you would have right now? That comes up where you would say, this is one of the questions that I think we should talk about?
Patrick I’m not sure I have one specific question that I think people don’t talk about. For me, the most important thing in setting up the Pioneers Club was always the very authentic way of talking to each other. Not about a specific question, but how are things going when you set up your enterprise, your freelance work, whatever it may be.
Because I feel like there’s a lot of, maybe a hard word, but toxic positivity out there when it comes to that. So that was, or still is, the most important thing for me. So I want to surround myself… And I really hope that we get these people to the event and to listen to our podcast that are willing to break that up a bit. Yes, it’s really good when it’s good, but it can also be not good when it’s not good. Which doesn’t mean that it will stay not good or bad. It’s just a phase. Everyone goes through ups and downs, and I really hope that we can talk about these things, open and honestly.
Monika So this is maybe what I would call realistic optimism. So the optimism that actually looks reality in the eye, where you confront reality with open eyes and you’re not afraid to call the child by its name. But then you are not kind of prompted into nihilism, depression, etc. because you actually know that you can deal with it.
So this is the kind of optimistic way to look at challenging things.
Patrick I hope so. And I really hope that we can find the people out there who are willing to go on this journey with us.
Monika Yeah, so I hope so as well. And we have already met a few of those people, which was very enriching for me. I know that we talked a lot about how great it was to actually talk with these people and also now writing with them on Instagram or getting their feedback to the podcast or to the newsletter. It was so mutually as well enriching, I hope.
And this is what we are going to continue then when we come back from the break, right? So starting with February, then, we will be back with our revised strategy, with our next episodes and with also what’s our plan for how to continue on with the events.
Patrick Yeah, that sounds great. I mean, it’s going to be an intense January for us, a creative break with a lot of new things. So I kind of cannot wait for 2024.
Monika At least looking back at what these past few weeks showed us, I think we are going to have a lot of fun and we’re going to enjoy this process as well.
A big Thank You to you, our audience and our supporters
Patrick But I think now it would be time to actually say thank you, not just to you, for doing this and to be on this journey, but also to our audience for listening to us through this testing phase, of course, and also hopefully be back next year. And also to the people who came to our events.
Monika Yes. And also, I want to say thank you as well for all the people who supported us on this journey and who joined us on this journey, be it on the event, sharing very openly and authentically with us what their experiences and their challenges, but also learnings were.
As well as to the people who wrote us on Instagram, on LinkedIn, who listened to the podcast, who gave us their feedback, and who already also implemented a few of the things that we talked about and then shared their learnings with us.
This was such an enriching conversation and I can’t wait to have even more of those in the New Year.
Now it’s your turn!
Patrick If you enjoyed this episode. Share it with your fellow entrepreneurs so they can listen too. Simply grab the link to this episode or the podcast and send it to them.
If you’re looking to join our tribe of movers and shakers, to get a sense of belonging and fresh ideas and insight, be sure to join our Pioneers Club community. The link’s waiting for you in our show notes.
Monika Also, don’t forget to connect with us on LinkedIn or Instagram and let us know: What was one helpful thought or insight that you gained from this episode?
Have any questions or ideas for us? Head over to our LinkedIn or Instagram pages and tell us. We read every submission and would love to answer your questions in a later episode too.
So thanks for joining us.
Patrick See you in the next one.
